Love, Literature and the Quantum Atom

Niels Bohr's 1913 Trilogy Revisited

Finn Aaserud and John L. Heilbron

Exhibits an unusual, perhaps unique, case of family support for intellectual work

Provides a rich account of science in the making

Attempts a new approach to scientific creativity

Love, Literature and the Quantum Atom

Niels Bohr's 1913 Trilogy Revisited

Finn Aaserud and John L. Heilbron

Description

Niels Bohr ranks with Einstein among the physicists of the 20th century. He rose to this status through his invention of the quantum theory of the atom and his leadership in its defense and development. He also ranks with Einstein in his humanism and his sense of responsibility to his science and the society that enabled him to create it. Our book presents unpublished excerpts from extensive correspondence between Bohr and his immediate family, and uses it to describe and analyze the psychological and cultural background to his invention. The book also contains a reprinting of the three papers of 1913 - the Trilogy - in which Bohr worked out the provisional basis of a quantum theory of the atom

Love, Literature and the Quantum Atom

Niels Bohr's 1913 Trilogy Revisited

Finn Aaserud and John L. Heilbron

Table of Contents

Part 1. Niels Bohr's Private Sphere - as revealed through unpublished family correspondence Finn Aaserud1. Introduction2. Finding each other in Copenhagen3. Niels in Cambridge4. Niels in Manchester5. Beginning married life in Copenhagen6. ConclusionPart 2. Nascent Science - The scientific and psychological background to Bohr's Trilogy J.L. Heilbron7. Necessary preliminaries8. Some physics around 19009. "Stupid electrons"10. Indictment of classical physics11. Odin the lawgiver12. The Trilogy13. Bolts from the bluePart 3. The Trilogy